Walking On
by White Bliss
Summary: After leaving the Bebop 3 years ago when Spike left, Faye moved to Mars and established a living there. One day she stumbled across someone who was suppose to have died that day with Spike...FayeVicious.
1. 3 Years Ago

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

**A/N:  The last time I've watched Cowboy Bebop was half a year ago.  It was truly an intriguing story.  Seeing so many fanfic about Spike and Faye, I decided to do a Vicous and Faye fanfic.  Enjoy!  Please r/r!  **

"" quotes

_'' thoughts_

**3 years ago after Spike's fight with Vicious…**

"And how are you two related to the patient?" asked the doctor.  

"We're his friends," answered Jet.  

"Hmm…well, all I have to say is that your buddy isn't doing so well," said the doctor, "Unfortunately, one of the bullet wounds caused him to be paralyzed from neck down.  We're sorry.  There is nothing left for us to do, but to patch him up the best we could."  

            Faye pulled out her gun and aimed it right between the doctor's eyes, "You're fucking lying!  You could've done something about it, but you didn't you fucker!  Spike can't be imbolized for the rest of his life.  He's a bounty hunter!"

            Jet rushed to lock Faye's arm from the back, causing Faye to drop her gun, "Faye, calm down!"

            "I'm sorry miss, but there is nothing we can do about his disabled body.  The injuries would have caused an ordinary person to die already, but Mr. Spiegel is no ordinary person indeed.  He is very lucky that he has survived through this incident."

            "Lucky?!  How the fuck is he lucky when he can't even move?!" screamed Faye.

            "Miss, I would like to inform you if you haven't already noticed that is a hospital.  Please refrain from screaming again or else you will have to be removed from this building," the doctor stated as calmly as he could.  He sure didn't want to anger Faye anymore for he was scared of the crazy things she might do to him.  

            "Can we see him now?" asked Jet coolly.  

It was bad enough that Faye became an emotion wretch; he must be strong and keep his posture.  He can't fall now.  Spike has always been a great friend to Jet.  Though it seems like they don't really care about each other, the fact is, they really do.  Well, Jet does.  Jet thought of Spike as a son as well as a friend.  It was heat breaking to hear of Spike being handicapped for the rest of his life.  It's just not right for Spike to be like that.  Movements were as normal as breathing is to Spike.  Not being able to move is like not being able to live for Spike.

"Yes, you may.  The patient is sleeping right now, so try to be quiet," said the doctor as he walked down the corridor to check up on other patients.

Jet walked into the room where Spike laid followed by Faye.  Jet pulled two chairs by the bed and motioned Faye to sit down.  Faye sat down slowly, never leaving her eyes off Spike's body.  

  
            "Not like this Spike…not like this," Faye said quietly.  '_This can't be Spike,' _she thought.  All Faye could do was, stare at the body in lying in the bed, the one she loves.   

A body all bandaged up laid on the bed.  The body was so messed up that one could only tell it was Spike Spiegel was by his green puff of hair.  Even the hair is not so green and puffy anymore.  The hair was wet from the perspiration and matted all over Spike's face.  

            "Julia…," Spike murmured in his sleep, "Come and save me…my angel…a dream it is indeed…."

            "Spike, it's Faye and Jet," said Jet.  

            Spike murmured something inaudible and slowly opened his eyes.  His eyes became focused to his surroundings.  He noticed two people sitting beside him and tried to turn his body to them, but somehow he just can't.  He tried moving his legs and arms but it refuse to follow his orders.  All he could do was turn his head to the side to face the two.  

            "What happened to me, Jet?" asked Spike in a raspy voice.  

            "Spike, you are so lucky that you have survived the fight with Vicious," explained Jet.  

            "What happened to Vicious?" asked Spike.

            "When they finally found you, there was no trace of Vicious or his men.  You were the only one there.  When you were found, they immediately took you to this hospital.  You have been in here for nearly two weeks," said Jet.  

            "Heh, it looks like I'm pretty messed up right now.  I can't even feel my body at all," chuckled Spike.  

            "Spike…I'm sorry to tell you this, but you are paralyzed from neck down for the rest of your life.  The doctor tried his best to save you.  He got your life back, but your body…," Jet muttered.  

            "Maybe the doctor shouldn't have tried so hard then," said Spike.

            Both Faye and Jet was shocked to hear that from Spike.  _'Does he really want to die that bad?!'_ Faye thought, _'Does he really want to be with Julia that bad to leave Jet and me behind?'_

            "Spike, you must be kidding," laughed Faye nervously.

            Spike looked up at Faye with his sad, empty eyes.  He doesn't have any reasons to live anymore.  

            "If I could kill myself right now, I would.  But unfortunately I can't, but fortunately there're you guys to help me out.  End my life for me," Spike said nonchalantly as if life is not valuable at all.  

            "No, Spike, please…please don't make us do this to you.  We all care for you really much…especially I.  Don't you care for us as well?  Spike, how can you tell the ones you love to kill you?  Spike…please don't do this.  I…I love you...please…for me," pleaded Faye, hoping Spike would change his mind.

            "Well, I don't.  I'm sorry Faye," said Spike, "This is the only way, and don't tell me it is not.  This is the ONLY way for me Faye.  Please understand." _'I'm sorry Faye.  Even if I do love you, I can't let you love someone like me.  You must move on and find someone better and worthy of your heart.  I love you, but not as much as I love Julia.  I'm sorry that it has to end this way'_

            Streams of tears flowed down Faye's face as she looked at Spike.  Her emerald eyes were filled with mix emotions of hurt and love.  _'Oh how I love your eyes Faye.  It is too bad that it will be my last time seeing it ever again. Even though we often fought back then, I really cared for you.  I actually started having feelings for you.  I wished I had the guts to ask you out before all this happened.  Maybe it was meant to be like this.  If it was, I'm glad that I didn't say anything to you or else this would have been much harder for both of us.  It seems like Fate can be so cruel sometimes.  I'm sorry.   Good bye'_

            Knowing that Faye would not have the heart to end Spike's miserable life, Jet stood up from his seat and pulled out his gun.  He aimed it at Spike's heart.

            Spike smiled his goofy smile at Jet.  "Bang," Spike said.  

            "Good bye space cowboy," said Jet and pulled the trigger.  

So what do you think?  Tell me!  ^____^;;  It's okay to criticize…but not too much.  It's my first fic after all.  


	2. One Lucky Guy

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

Yeah, I know I'm a fucker for killing Spike like that, but I like things to be different.  So haha, I just figured it might be intriguing to do have Jet end Spike's life.  So on with chapter 1.  

**Chapter 1 **

            _'Heh, that was three years ago…I wonder how Jet is doing now.  I heard he resigned from bounty hunting and settled on Venus.  He may even have a wife and kids already.  Hah, I would like to see that,' thought Faye, as she strolled through the streets of Mars at the dead of the night towards the cemetery._

            She walked slowly up to a neatly tended grave.  On the tombstone was the name, "Spike Spiegel, it was a dream for me after all."  In Faye's hand was a bouquet of deep crimson red roses, as if it were dipped in blood.  

            "Spike, it has been three years since you have died.  I wonder how you are doing in purgatory.  Knowing the arrogant bastard you are, who can almost survive through anything, I guess you must be having fun down there," Faye laughed lightly, her eyes gleaming with remembrance and tears.

            "Stupid Lunkhead.  These roses are very expensive, so you better enjoy them.  There aren't many roses in this galaxy anymore.  You're lucky that I've found a dozen of them.  It cost me nearly half of my pay check.  Well, I'm gonna go now.  Say, 'Hi,' to Julia for me," Faye said, "After all these years, I think I can finally let go of you Spike.  Rest in peace."

            Faye left the cemetery and headed back to her apartment.  She was no longer the same person she was three years ago.  Things have changed for her.  Faye now works as a dealer at the Lucky Charms Casino.  She was well off.  Life was finally getting back to normal, well…as normal as it can get for Faye.  She occasionally got into fights at the bars and got a few guys trying to kill her for her swindling them.  She didn't do it for the money but just for old time's sake.   

            Faye walked with a quick steady gait.  It was getting cold and her thin spaghetti strap tank top wasn't helping much to warm her up.  Her heels clicked and clacked through the empty streets.  No one was out tonight, not even the local bums.  Everyone was either at home or housed in some kind of club or bar to stay away from the lonely streets.  Faye sure did feel lonely walking down the streets, but the streets can only go so far.  It will eventually come to a stop and the loneliness can follow her no more.  

            "Damn, it's cold," she cursed to herself as she sped up a little more.  

            Thump The sound of a heavy object falling broke the rhythm of the click clacking heels and the sad lonely silence the streets offered.  Seeing two men on her right in a dark alley, Faye hid herself in the shadows offered by the tall shabby buildings.  'Hmm…I wonder what they're doing here.  Looks kinda interesting,' she thought.  

 "No one is gonna find him here," a deep masculine voice was heard, "If he doesn't die from his wounds, he'll die from the cold."  

"Are you sure we should let him go like this?  Our boss's order was to kill him and make sure he's dead," said the other guy with shrilly voice.  

"If someone does save him, he must really be a lucky man.  No one is walking on these streets, so I'll doubt he'll get help in time.  I like to think of him dying a slow painful death," the other man answered.  

"But…that's not our orders."

"Shut up.  It's getting cold.  Let's get out of here," the man with the masculine voice pulled the other man away from the alley.  They got into their car and left with swirls of dust floating behind them.  After the car has disappeared into the night, Faye emerged from the shadows.  She walked up to the trail of blood leading to a big garbage bag.   .  

"Well I guess luck is on your side today mister," Faye said as she walked up to the bag,  Opening the bag, all she could see was a mass of white hair with streaks of blood on it, making it look like he had red highlights.  

"You're one god damn lucky guy to be saved by a gorgeous woman like me, "she muttered to herself as she closed the bag.  Faye tried to pick the bag up but when she took a step with the bag in her arms, she just couldn't take the weight and dropped it. A faint muffled groan could be heard from inside the bag.  

"I wouldn't complain if I were you.  I can't help it if you need to lose some weight," she grunted as she tried to lift the bag up again.  In the end, she decided to drag the bag home.  Luckily for Faye, she was only twenty minutes away from her place.  

~~~ Twenty minutes later at Faye's apartment ~~~

            Faye closed the door behind her as she entered her apartment.  _'Phew, that was tiring,'_ she thought as drops of sweat rolled down her face, _'Once he wakes up, I'm going to make sure he pays me back for helping him."  _

            She opened the bag again.  The stench of blood was overwhelming to her nose.  _'Haven't inhaled this scent for a long time,' Faye thought.  It brought back memories of her bounty hunting days. Faye pulled the body out of the bag.  Two gunshot wounds were found on the man's right thigh and his left shoulder.  The body was a mess; there was blood everywhere.  His hair was plastered all over his face veiling his identity from Faye, so she didn't get a clear look at his face.  Faye didn't even bother cleaning him up as she went to work removing the bullets from his body right away.  _

            After bandaging his wounds, Faye cleaned the blood on the man's body away.  As she got to his head, she wiped the blood from his hair revealing his hair to be a shiny silver, just like how the moon used to be.  'It's so soft.  I must ask him what shampoo he uses to have hair this soft,' she thought as she gently brushed the hair away from his face.

            "Oh my god.  It can't be you!" she exclaimed looking at the face that belongs to man known as Vicious.  After much debating on whether to kill the guy lying on the floor or not, Faye decided to take a shower call it a night and forget about Vicious for now.  

A/N: I dunno where I'm going with this story.  I forgot to note that if you're gonna review and say you hate the story so far, you must tell me **WHY** as well as in does it lack a flow or there's not main idea in the whole chapter at all or maybe it's just your own personal opinion.  Can't improve upon myself and make it a better fic if you reviewers don't point out where is the problem.  


	3. Waking Up

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

**Chapter 2 **

            Vicious groaned as he woke up to a very sore body.  He attempted to get up, but after several days from sleeping on the floor he acquired a stiff back and neck.  

            "Where the hell am I?" he muttered as he looked around the apartment.  The living room in where he lay was sparsely furnished with only the things that were necessary were there, such as a sofa, coffee table, and a T.V.  The carpet was cream white with a smooth velvety feeling to it.  _'And I thought this person would at least be nice enough and put me on the sofa or something so I won't end up feeling as crappy as I do now,'_ he thought.

Vicious tried to turn around but couldn't to see what was behind him, but from what his other senses can tell him, he could smell the aroma of food in back of him.  He felt a grumble in his stomach as the smell filled his nose.  _'Damn,  wonder how long I have been sleeping.  I feel like I haven't eaten for weeks,' he wondered as his stomach began to grumble again.  _

At first, Vicious thought it was raining, but he realized that someone was in the shower when there was a sudden stop to the pitter patter.  Then he heard the opening of a door followed by soft footsteps walking towards him.  Vicious immediately closed his eyes and pretended to be in deep slumber.  

Faye shoved Vicious light and said, "Hey wake up already.  You have been sleeping for days already."  Seeing no reaction from Vicious, she shoved him much harder this time and yelled, "WAKE UP!"

Vicious slowly opened his eyes to find a beautiful lady sitting by him.  She was only wearing a robe loosely put on her which showed a fair amount of cleavage.  Her hair was purple barely brushing on her shoulders.  The women in front of him have big green eyes shining like two jewels with softly shaped eyebrows accentuating those stunning eyes.  Her lip was as captivating as her eyes; it was full and luscious looking as soft as a pillow does.  She was a beautiful site indeed.  

Fay noticed Vicious was gazing at her as she saw his eyes roaming over her body.  Faye smirked, "Men…they're so obvious."  

"What's up with that smile on your face?" Vicious asked when he finally noticed the smirk on her face.  

Faye broke off from her thoughts and looked Vicious in the eyes.  They were a deep blue.  Just like the ocean, his feelings were settled somewhere deep in the bottom where no one can find them.  His eyes matched the rest of the features on his face being cold and hard.  There were no soft lines on his face; his face was all angles.  He had prominent cheekbones jutting out making his face look very masculine and ruthless.  His lip was a thin line that showed no hint of a smile.  

"What are you looking at?" Vicious questioned.  

"At how messed up you look right now," she answered diverting her eyes to somewhere else.  _'Blech, I shouldn't be looking at him like that.  He's Vicious!  He is called Vicious for a reason!'_ her mind screamed at her for checking Vicious out.  

"Come on Vicious.  Get up and let's eat breakfast," she said.

"How do you know my name?  Who are you?" Vicious asked slightly puzzled from her knowledge of his name.  _'Do I know her?' he wondered, __'She looks familiar, but I can't quite put my fingers where I've seen her.' _

Faye arched her eyebrows, amused by Vicious' question.  _'Wait…he doesn't recognize me?!  Heh… even better.  Now I don't have to worry about my life as I try to help him get better.  As soon as he can walk normally again, I'll kick him out, and he'll never know that I was a member of the Bebop and Spike's friend,' she thought, _'Maybe I could even swindle a good fortune from  him before I kick him out.'_  _

"Umm…I heard the guys that left you in the alley called you Vicious," she lied..  

"Oh, I see," he said.  Not wanting to talk anymore he tried to get up but fell back onto the carpet.  Faye placed her hand on his elbow and got a good grip of it.  She led him to the dining table next to the kitchen so he can eat.  

"Thanks," he muttered as Faye placed her plate of food in front of him and went into her room.  Several minutes later, she came out with a pair of dark denim jeans and a black halter top wrapped tightly around chest leaving no imagination to the eyes.  She walked into the kitchen to get some coffee for Vicious and herself.  

'Nice rack,' Vicious thought as he watched her walk to the kitchen.  

Seeing that Faye wasn't going to eat with him but instead at the coffee maker drinking her cup of coffee, he asked, "You're not going to eat?"

"Nope, I'm in a hurry today, got to go run a few errands before work today," she said.  She placed her emptied cup into the sink and walked to Vicious and handed him the other cup of coffee.  Vicious brushed his hands on hers as he took the cup of coffee from her giving the both of them an electrifying sensation.  The touch was so sensational for both of them that they both stopped whatever they were doing.  Then Vicious broke into motion again as he placed the cup on the table and started eating again.  Faye stood there for several more seconds and then walked to the kitchen counter to get her bag.   

"By the way, you smell like shit.  Go take a bath or something," she said as she pinched her nose with her fingers walking past him to the door to put on her heels.    

"Hmm…if I smell so bad, maybe you should've helped me take a bath.  I wouldn't have mind," he said as he gave her a sly smile.  

Faye pretended that she didn't hear the comment and left the apartment with her cheeks flushed.  Her cheeks were burning from the comment.  

"Damn you," she muttered and left the building.  

Not missing the site of Faye's flustered face, Vicious smiled inwardly. 

"It's going to be a great day today," he said to himself as he finished his breakfast.  

A/N:  What do you think?  I think Faye should have given him a bath…hehehe…it's not like he'll find out! 

Thank you all you reviewers out there!  I thought I wouldn't get any reviews at all.  *sniff *sniff  I'm so happy!  


	4. Just Trying to Help

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

**Chapter 3**

            When Faye came home from work that night, she opened the door to her apartment to find Vicious sitting on the couch watching T.V. with only a towel wrapped around his body.  For a couple of seconds Faye froze at the door and gaped at him before she regained her posture.

            "What the hell are you doing?" she bursted, "Who said you can walk around my place dressed like that?!"  _'Or not dress…eh…whatever,'_ she thought.  

            "You're the one that told me that I stink.  The clothes are drying right now," he said coolly, as if it's normal to be practically naked in a stranger's house.  

            Faye threw a shopping bag at Vicious; he caught it between his index and middle finger rather easily.  

            "What's this?" he asked.  

            "There're some clothes inside.  You've got nothing to show, so go and put something on," she said as she headed to the kitchen.  She lied; Vicious has a handsome body.  There was no fat on his body; he was all muscles.  His skin stretched taut over his muscles, outlining each and every one of them.  'I wonder what's under the towel,' Faye thought as she chopped several carrots for dinner_, 'NO!  I can't think like that!  He's VICIOUS for crying out loud.  I use to want to cut him into a million pieces and feed them to the Ein.'_

            "Shit!" Faye exclaimed when she accidentally cut her finger.  

            Vicious staggered out of the bathroom changed into khakis and a black shirt and headed towards the kitchen to see what was going on.  There he saw blood dripping from Faye's hand.  

            "Go tend your wound, and I'll try to cook," Vicious said, "But before I do so, I need to a pair of scissors to cut off this tag on my shirt; it's annoying me like hell."

            "It's in my room in one of the drawers in the table," she said, "Well, since you're going to cook, I think I'll take a bath then." Faye headed towards her room to grab her garments, and then headed for a nice hot bath.  

            Vicious searched through the drawers.  When he came to the second drawer, he found a something interesting.  It was a picture.  

            "Spike…" Vicious whispered as he looked at the photo of Spike and Faye together with a dog biting on Faye's skirt.  Faye looked very pissed grabbing on to Spike for support as she tried to kick the dog away.  Spike was laughing in the picture; he was laughing at Faye and the whole incident going on right then.  They looked like a loving couple.  _'So she didn't save me out of the goodness of her heart like I thought,' he pondered, 'She must have done it for revenge then.  Bet she's waiting for the right time to drive a dagger into my heart.'_

            Vicious walked out of her room without ever finding the pair of scissors with the picture in his hand.  He put the picture into his pocket and started to cook dinner.  

~~~ Forty-Five Minutes Later ~~~

            Faye emerged out of the bathroom.  The first thing that struck her was the aroma coming from the kitchen.  Dinner was ready.  She walked to the dining table, and there she saw Vicious waiting for her with dishes of gourmet food placed on the table.  It was the most appetizing dinner she had ever had in years.  

            "This taste great," Faye said while popping another piece of chicken into her mouth.  She was oblivious to Vicious' odd behavior at the table.  He wasn't talking much not that he ever talked much to begin with, and he seemed much more rigid than usual.  

            After fifteen minutes of silence, Vicious asked, "So what's your name?  I haven't got to know my savior's name yet." 

            Faye tried to think of a fake name to answer Vicious' question but decided to give him her real name.  _'It's not like he knows who I am anyways,' she thought.  _

            "My name is Faye," she replied.

            'Faye…,' he thought, _'Faye Valentine…Yes, I remember now.'_ Vicious stood up and started cleaning the dining table.  

            "You don't have to clean it up.  I'll do it after I'm done," Faye said.

            "Whatever," Vicious said coldly as he placed the plates in the sink.  He then walked to the living room to watch some more T.V.  

            Faye noticed Vicious' sudden change of attitude but brushed it off.  While she was washing the dishes, she was fighting with her conscience.  Her conscience told her to tell Vicious' that she knows Spike and that she knows who Vicious was, but her mind screamed that unless she wants to die early, she better keep her mouth shut.  She really didn't want to get on the bad side of Vicious.  Faye actually wanted to get to know him more.  There was something about him that attracted Faye very much indeed.  When Faye was done with the dishes, she subconsciously walked over to Vicious and sat down next to him on the couch.

            "Since you're not feeling so well, you can sleep on my bed.  It's fairly big, so you can have one side of it, while I'll get the other," she offered.  _'What the hell am I thinking?!  Sleeping with Vicious?!  Oh God no, that didn't come out of my mouth!'_ she yelled at herself mentally.  

            Vicious just stared at Faye.  No response came out from him.  He just sat there looking at Faye as if she had something hideous on her face.  Faye became fidgety under Vicious' stare.  

            "What?!" Faye exclaimed.  Vicious didn't say anything; he just kept staring at her.  

            Trying to ease the tension Vicious' was creating, Faye grinned and said, "What's wrong Vicious?  Are you afraid to sleep with me?  I won't bite."

            Finally realizing that Faye had said something, Vicious moved in on Faye.  He was merely inches away from touching her face with his nose.  He moved into her and whispered in her ears, "No, but I think you will be because I like to sleep naked."

            Faye gasped at Vicious' comment.  Vicious just laughed evilly when he saw the dumbfounded look on Faye's face.  

            "I'm tired.  I'll gladly take your offer Faye.  Good night," Vicious said as he left to go to sleep.  

            "What a bastard," Faye said loud enough for Vicious to hear.  Faye lounged around in the living for several more hours before she went to bed.  Hoping that Vicious' had already fallen asleep, she crept into her room.  She went to her side of the bed and fell asleep without the blanket on.  Faye didn't feel like finding out if Vicious' was really naked or not.    

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

            In the dead of the night, the moon shone brightly through the window of Faye's room.  The only thing that was shining as bright was the knife running up Faye's body reflecting the moon's beam.  A hand caressed Faye's cheek as a knife grazed her neck.  

            "Wake up Faye."

            Faye stirred in her bed.  She slowly opened her eyes, to meet a pair of dark, cold eyes penetrating hers.  At first she wasn't sure who it was, but the moonlight gleamed on Vicious' hair turning it into dazzling silver.  The next thing Faye noticed as a cold hard blade pressed onto her neck.  

            "What's the hell…," Faye muttered.

"Is going on?" Vicious finished the question for her, "That's exactly what I want to know Faye…Faye Valentine."

            "W-What do you mean?" Faye asked.

            "Don't act stupid with me Faye.  I want to know why the hell you saved me.  What are your true intentions?  Come on Faye, spit it out.  I know you know Spike.  So tell me the truth," Vicious warned.  Faye looked at him astonished by his actions.

            "My only intention is to help you," she said calmly trying to stop herself from stuttering.

            "Don't lie," Vicious stated as the blade was pressed firmer into Faye's neck.  A thin line of blood starts to appear on Faye's neck.  "Don't make me kill you Faye," Vicious said coldly.   

            "I'm serious Vicious," Faye whimpered from the pain caused by the blade, "If I have wanted you dead, I would've left you there in that alley.  Please Vicious…I just want to help."

            Seeing Faye was telling the truth, Vicious regretted hurting her but immediately coved it up.  Faye noticed the flash of regret in his eyes.  It went away as soon as it came.  She didn't know if she was seeing things or was it real.  She kept searching in Vicious' eye, hoping for something to appear to answer her question.  Vicious noticed what Faye was doing.  He suddenly tore his eyes from her gaze and looked away.  

            "I don't need your help.  You don't know me Faye. I'm not the person you would want to help; neither do I want any….from you anyways," Vicious spat as he moved away from Faye. 

"Vicious…I meant no harm," Faye said.  She lifted one of her hands and touched the wound on her neck.

Vicious didn't look at her.  He dropped the knife and headed out of the bedroom.  Faye could hear the soft footsteps outside, then the door opening and closing.  

 "I know you didn't either," Faye whispered as the deep red blood trickled down from her hand to her arm.  

            Somewhere outside on the streets of Mars, the echo of footsteps of a man walking with no destination could be heard.  Tap tap tap.  Vicious didn't know where to go for the night.  Soon his feet led him to a small park where he lay on a bench waiting for the day to come.  


	5. Moonlight Bar

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

A/N:  Okay, this chapter is really long compared to my previous chapters, and I'm still writing!  This revelation suddenly dawned upon me on what's going to happen for the next few chapters, so I'm trying to write it all down before I forget it.  Enjoy!  

**Chapter 4**

            Faye didn't feel like waking up.  '_What a shitty day,' she thought.  Dark clouds have shielded the sun from the earth.  Anywhere you go, rain seems to be inevitable here on Mars, but it was pouring.  The drops of rain splattered on to the window sounded like gunshots firing endlessly trying to break in…trying to get Faye.  Suddenly, she shot of from the bed and started getting ready for work. _

            "Screw this shit.  If he doesn't want any help, that's fine with me!" she yelled trying to make herself feel better.  After the ego boost, she hurried to work.  

            "Hey Faye!" 

            "Hey Mel," Faye said to a short petite girl with long midnight blue hair hanging down to her waist.  The girl looked no older than twenty.  She was wearing her work uniform; everyone who works at the casino must wear black bottoms and a white dress shirt.  Mel was a dealer at the Lucky Charms Casino, just like Faye.

            Mel gave Faye a worried look, "What's wrong Faye?  What's up with the bandage on your neck?"

            "Nothing's wrong.  A cat on my street jumped up and scratched me," Faye lied.

            "Ouch," Mel said as she walked out of the locker room.  She stopped at the door, "Oh yeah, are you planning to go to the masquerade party this Friday?"  

            "Hmm…I don't know," Faye replied.

            "Oh you should!  It will be fun.  There will be lots of people going.  It's the perfect time to meet someone there!  Come on Faye.  Besides, the boss wants all his employees to go!  The whole hotel is reserved for the party to celebrate the great success Lucky Charms Casino is" Mel exclaimed.  

            Mel was Faye's closest friend.  The other ladies who worked at the casino didn't like Faye because of how Faye looked and how much attention she attracted.  Well, all the other ladies except Mel.  Mel didn't really care much about anything.  She was the happy-go-lucky type of girl.  Faye admired that characteristic greatly; it reminded Faye of her past.  Soon Faye and Mel bonded like sisters. 

            "Alright.  Masquerade party?  Sounds very ancient to me, but I'll go," Faye said.  

            "Great!  We'll go shopping after work today!" Mel sounded very excited.  Faye couldn't help but smile at the young girl.  Everything seems fun to her.  Faye remembered how Mel dragged her to go watch one of those old flicks from the 20th century.  Mel thought it was thrilling to see Tom Cruise, while Faye slept through more than half of the so called "action packed" film.  

            "Sure," Faye replied dryly.  She didn't feel like shopping today.  The cold dark weather seemed to be getting to her or maybe it was from waking up to find a knife at her throat.  Whatever the reason, Faye just wanted to go home and sleep the day away.    

~ ~  ~  ~  ~

            Faye finally got home from four hours of shopping.  Both Mel and Faye couldn't find the dress at the mall they went to, so they decided to meet up on Wednesday to go to a different shopping center to get their outfits.  Faye had a good time at the mall.  She liked going around trying on all those pretty clothes.  Things turned out pretty well, even the weather had changed from dark heavy clouds to a clear beautiful night sky, and now Faye is going to meet Mel up at the Moonlight Club after she gets dressed.  

            Faye pulled on a short white skirt and a black tube top on.  She outlined her eyes with black eyeliner and smudged it to give her eyes a smokey effect.  Then she applied some lip gloss and left to the club.  It was the first time in years for Faye to go to a club; she preferred bars over club any day.  But today, Faye felt like doing something different, so off she went.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

            "The Moonlight Club…how interesting," Vicious muttered as he walked through a shabby looking door to a beautifully furnished club.  There were people dancing on the white marbled floor and private booths for people to sit and drink.  The music was blaring through sound system as the people danced under the glass ceiling.  The two moons and the stars shone on the dance floor giving it a celestial effect.  There were dimly lit booths along the walls and a bar at the far right of the club where Vicious walked up to the bartender.  

            "I'm looking for Ekin," Vicious said as he sat himself down on one of the stools.  

            The bartender arched his eyebrow, "And who are you?"

            "God," Vicious answered.

            "Come with me," the bartender said as he walked into the back of the bar, "Hey Joe, take care of the front for me," the bartender ordered the guy in the back.  

            "No problem Frank," the guy walked out from the back.  He eye Vicious suspiciously as Vicious followed Frank to the back.  

            "Who's that guy?" Joe asked.

            "He's here to see Ekin," Frank replied as he disappeared into the back of the bar along with Vicious right behind him.

            "He's behind that door," Frank gestured as he led Vicious through the hallway to the door at the far end of the rows of doors.  

            Without saying "thanks" to the bartender, Vicious brushed past Frank to open the door.  Vicious closed it right behind him as Frank was about to walk in.

            "What a strange guy," Frank muttered as he rubbed his sore nose from bumping into the closing door.  

            Vicious ignored the strange thump he heard as he closed the door.  A man around his thirties sat behind a big heavy oak desk several yards from Vicious.  The man was slouching behind the desk inspecting something on his desk.  He wore heavy round glasses that made him look older than he really was.  He looked up when he heard a click of closing door and footsteps approaching him.  

            "So it's you," the man behind the desk muttered.  Vicious walked up to the desk and took a seat without even being asked to.  

            "And nice to see you too Ekin," Vicious said. 

            "What do you want this time?" Ekin asked nonchalantly. 

            "I need a katana, similar to the one you got me before," Vicious said.  

            "Those are extinct," Ekin said. 

            "That's why I came to you," Vicious replied.

            Ekin gave Vicious an annoyed look.  He got up from his chair and walked to a big cabinet behind the desk.  Ekin opened the heavy cabinet doors to reveal a display of swords ranging from medieval swords to bokkens inside.  

            "What happened to the katana I gave you last time?" Ekin asked.  

            "It's gone," Vicious answered.

            "GONE?!  Do you know how valuable that katana was?!  It was made in the early 1600's by one of the best sword forgers at that time!" Ekin exclaimed.  

            "Well, that's kinda too bad," Vicious said.

            "You should be more appreciative with the things you have," Ekin said, "Some things are just too valuable to say 'too bad' when lost," Ekin handed Vicious a katana similar to the one Vicious had before.  Vicious took the sword from Ekin and started inspecting it.  

            "It's lighter, but the length is the same as the one you had before," Ekin pointed out.

            "How much?" Vicious asked.  

            "Don't worry about it.  It's a gift from me to you," Ekin said.

            "Thanks," Vicious said, "I also need you to find something out for me."

            "What?" Ekin asked.

            "I need you to help me find Samuel and Shawn," Vicious said, "I need to pay my homage to them for letting me live when they left me in this cold dark alley one night to be saved by someone."    

            "I saw Samuel a few days ago.  He mentioned about going to a masquerade party which will be held at the Billen Hotel this Friday.  You might find Shawn there as well.  Samuel came by to give me an invitation.  You know I don't like to associate with any syndicates, so you can have my invitation if you are interested in going," Ekin offered. 

            "Okay," Vicious got up and took the invitation from Ekin.  

            "How about a drink?" Ekin asked before Vicious walked out of the door.  

            "Sure, my treat," Vicious replied as they headed out of the room to the bar.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

            "Faye, stop drinking and start dancing!" Mel exclaimed as she watched Faye finished another glass of Vodka (a/n: is it called glass or shot?).  

            "Fine, fine, fine," Faye said.  She reluctantly left her seat from the bar and went onto the dance floor.  Within several minutes, two guys approached Mel and Faye and started dancing with the girls.  The guy Mel was dancing with led Mel to somewhere else dance, while Faye's and the guy's body started grinding against each other as the dance floor got crowded.  

            "So what's your name sexy?" the guy whispered in Faye's ears, "My name is Jared."  

            "What a cute name.  My name is Faye," she replied in his ears.  Jared had a handsome face no girls can resist.  He had jet black hair; it was short and styled messy.  He was muscular and very charming to boot.  He was the ladies' man.  

            Jared stifled a groan as Faye moved her hips into his.  "It's getting hot in here, let's go sit down and get some drinks," Jared said.

            "Sure," Faye replied as they went off to a corner booth.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

            At the bar, Vicious and Ekin sat silently drinking their whiskeys.  A few women came over to flirt with Vicious, but Vicious just gave them a cold glance.

            "Still love Julia?" Ekin asked as the women backed away from Vicious from fear.   

            "No.  I never loved Julia; she was never the one I would fall in love with," Vicious said, "No one cheats on Vicious.  She messed with the wrong man."  

            "Too true.  I could tell she wasn't your type," he said as he sipped his drink.  Ekin caught an image at the corner of his eye, and he turned to see what it was.  "How distasteful to do something like that in a bar," he muttered.

            Vicious turned as well to see what Ekin was looking at.  There was a guy and a girl making out at the corner of a booth.  The guy was on top of the girl, moving his hands up the girl's skirt as they kissed heatedly.  Vicious looked away and started to drink.  

            Suddenly there was a scream from that corner, and the guy fell down to the floor clutching his crotch.  

            "You bitch!" he yelled.

            "That's what you get for trying to make a move on me you dirty bastard!" the girl yelled back.  

            Vicious took a closer look at the girl.  To his surprise, it was Faye.  _'That girl is always brewing trouble wherever she goes,' he remembering times when he saw her at other times caught in troubles similar to the ones now or worse.  He never really knew who she was.  It was always that fine ass chick sitting right there, that's what he called her.  Vicious took another sip of whiskey_

            A girl rushed up to Faye and said something.  Faye shook her head and left the bar leaving her friend behind.  The guy on the floor got up and walked awkwardly to the door.  

            "That bitch is gonna get it.  Let's go!" he yelled for his buddies to follow.  Ten to fifteen men followed the guy out of the club.  

            "That girl is gonna be in deep shit," Ekin said as he watched the group of guys headed out the door.  

            "Hmm," Vicious said as he drank the rest of his whiskey in one gulp.

"Well, it's time for me to get going," Vicious said while getting up to pay for the drinks and left the club.

            "I guess I should return the favor of you saving me Faye," Vicious muttered as he took the cab and followed the car ahead of him.  

A/N: So what do you people think?!  Plz review!  I dun mind flames but be reasonable!  And can somebody please tell me what's "rnrn"?  Thanks!  


	6. Aachoo

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

A/N:  School's starting tomorrow for me!  I'll try to update often.  This fic is killing me.  I've spent days on this chapter and I'm still not satisfied with it.  It lacks a certain flare to it I should say.  I was planning to have Vicious leave because Faye took care of the guys herself.  Then they would actually meet up at the masquerade party and then start things off from there.  Then I got into this little problem, how the hell is Vicious suppose know if Faye is there or not since it is a masquerade party after all.  So, I decided to make Vicious save Faye and have some waffy stuff in this chapter.  

A/N:  one of the reviewers asked if Vicious was naked or not in chapter 3 I believe, haha, if you want, sure he was naked.  ^____^;;; whatever floats your boat.  I need to say, thank you for all you reviewers out there.  I appreciate you guys telling me that my writing has improved but I must say, the improvement does not show on this chapter.  Haha.  

**Chapter 5**

            _'I don't even know why I'm doing this,' Vicious thought as he walked towards the group of men surrounding Faye.  Faye was able to fight some of the men off, but there was just too much.  __'I'm just asking for trouble here…it's not me to be like this.'  Without even bothering to unsheathe his sword, Vicious ran towards the man that was about to scar Faye's face and tackled him to the ground. He rolled out of his fall and immediately got back up to break the next man's knee.  One by one, the men fell to the ground with shattered bones somewhere in their bodies.  He made sure once they fall, they wouldn't be capable of getting back up on their own.  _

            Vicious walked up the guy that was with Faye earlier in the bar; he was the guy Vicious tackled to the ground where he got his broken ribs on the steps of the apartment building.  Already having difficulty to breath with broken ribs, Vicious grabbed the Jared by the throat and started to tighten his grip; the chokes and gasps from the guy was pleasant to Vicious' ears.  

            "I better not see you again or else your head will no longer be settling nicely on your neck," Vicious said with a hint of malice in his voice.  

            "I'm…sorrie…I didn't…know…she was…your woman…," Jared gasped, "It won't…happen…again."

            'My woman?  Faye?' Vicious thought.  Surprised by what Jared said, Vicious loosened his grip on his about to crack neck and let Jared go.  Jared limped his way away from Vicious as fast as he could, leaving his beaten friends behind.  He finally stopped and fell to the ground when he was several blocks away.  Hate was brewing inside of Jared; he couldn't believe he got screwed over because of a bitch like Faye.  

"I won't do it again, I promise," Jared muttered, "…not when you're around."  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Thanks," Faye said.  Vicious didn't say anything.  He just stood there with a faraway look on his face; he only broke out of his reverie when he saw Faye trying to get up with a sprain ankle but failed miserably. _'Stupid heels,'_ she thought.    

            "Are you okay?" Vicious asked offering his hand to Faye.  Faye was stunned by the hand reaching out for her.  No one had ever offered a helping hand to her before; and the hand belonged to Vicious shocked her even more.  

"Yeah, just a little shocked that you would even bother to save me," Faye said, taking his hand and got up from the ground.  Everything was fine until she started to walk; her ankle just couldn't support any weight.  She was about the fall once again, but this time, Vicious caught Faye tightly around her waist before she hit the ground.  

The first thing that registered in Vicious' mind was her body against his; his body itched for more contact between them.  The contact of their skin caused unknown emotions to stir inside of Vicious.  _'Mmm…her body feels so good against mine…,'_ he thought while he swept her feet off the ground.  Carrying her in his arms, he started to head for her apartment.  

"You're in no condition to walk," he said.  

Faye's felt a blush creeping up to her face.  She could feel Vicious' hot breath on her neck and his arms wrapped around her so securely.  She had never felt so safe for the first time in her life.  As Vicious walked up the steps to enter the apartment building, Faye wrapped her arms around Vicious' waist causing him to stop midway from taking another step and looked at Faye.  The sudden tight embrace caused his heart to take a few skips; it was such a pleasant feeling to hold Faye.    

"I don't want to fall," she muttered lamely as she looked away from his searching eyes.  

It was true though.  All her life she had felt like she was falling endlessly deeper and deeper in a dark hole.  She could feel the emptiness of the fall consuming her inch by inch, and when it is done eating her body and soul; she will finally hit the ground.  Right now, in Vicious' arms, she could feel herself stopping from the long fall.  Instead of falling down, she felt like she was falling up because of him, or maybe it was because of the elevator going up she mused.  

Faye tightened her embrace around Vicious; she just wanted to get closer to this feeling of haven.  _'Who would've thought that I would find safety in the arms of Vicious.'_  She leaned in and rested her head on his chest.  She took a deep breath, taking in his intoxicating scent; it was a smell of evergreen mingled with a masculine musk.  _'Smells just like back then…when I was a little girl taking a walk in the evergreen woods near our house.'  _

"You smell wonderful," she muttered in his shirt.  

Vicious didn't know what to say to that.  He felt light footed when she said that; he felt like walking on air.  _'What the hell am I suppose to say to that?!' he searched frantically for something to say back to Faye._

"We're at your door," he stated, "Why don't you get your keys out so we can get in?"  _'I feel so stupid right now…'_

Faye pulled her keys out and opened the door to her apartment.  Feeling slightly awkward about the thought of Vicious putting her to bed, she decided to get out of Vicious' arms.

"You can put me down now," she mumbled incoherently and started to climb out of Vicious' arms.    

Vicious didn't hear what Faye said, and lost his balance when Faye suddenly jerked her body to get out of his hold, causing him to trip and fall on to the bed along with Faye.  He stopped himself from landing on top of the wide-eyed Faye with his hands.  Vicious took a big gulp of air when he saw Faye lying under him with her skirt riding up her smooth thighs and her breasts trying to come out of her tight tube top.  Faye was at a very, very vulnerable position if Vicious wanted to do anything to her, and his mind screamed for him to take her right then and there.  'Argh…too much whiskey,' he thought mentally kicking himself for thinking of such perverse thoughts.  

Suddenly he felt Faye's lips pressed lightly on his.  It was a soft feather light kiss.  Before Vicious could react to that, Faye pulled away.  She blushed and looked away from Vicious to keep her face from getting any redder.  

"Thank you," she mumbled, "For being here tonight."

Vicious didn't say anything back.  The only thing that came to his mind was kiss her, and he did.  He slowly moved in to kiss Faye, but when he was merely two inches from her, Faye suddenly sneezed.  

"Aaachoo!" 

_'GRREAT, I just ruined the perfect moment with a sneeze!'_ Faye screamed at herself for always doing the wrong things at the wrong time.  Her face was beet red now; she wanted to cover herself with a blanket and never see Vicious again.  _'Argh, why does it have to happen to me?!' _

Vicious chuckled lightly at the whole incident while he pulled a blanket over Faye.  _'She looks so adorable when she blushes,'_ he mused. 

"It's okay Faye.  Maybe next time," Vicious whispered seductively into Faye's ear, "Next time, I promise you it'll be more than just a kiss."  

"Do you have a place to stay?" Faye asked trying to change the subject.  

"In fact, I do.  I'm residing at the Field's Hotel right now.  I guess the Red Dragons weren't as smart as I thought they were, because they forgot to freeze my account," he said.  Vicious looked around the room; it was the first time he really got a good look of it.  He noticed the invitation to the masquerade party on Faye's nightstand. 

"You're invited to the party as well?" he asked gesturing at the invitation.

"Well, it's a celebration for the casino I work at.  All employees are invited," she said.  

"I guess I'll be seeing you there this Friday then," he muttered.  

"You're going?" she asked.

"To take care of some business," he said remembering his objectives now.  With that said, Vicious got up to leave the room.  

"See you on Friday," Vicious said as he left.  _'Hmm…maybe it won't be all about business after all,' he thought.  _

Faye went to sleep right after Vicious left.  She was so excited that she'll have another chance to see Vicious in a few days although she didn't know why she was so excited.  She was starting to like Vicious, and this bond seemed to be forming between them.  Every time one of them was in trouble, the other would always be around to save the day; they were always there to help each other.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

            Vicious decided to walk back to his hotel, which was only a few blocks away from where Faye lived.  The air was carrying a cold chill, so he walked faster.  He reached into the pockets of his pants to warm his hands and noticed a thick piece of paper in one of his pockets.  He pulled it out to see what it was; he soon realized it was the picture of Spike and Faye.  

            He took a closer look at the picture.  The picture seemed to be taunting him that he could never have the thing he wants the most, because it belongs to someone else…someone named Spike.  **_'Dead or alive, she's still tied to him,' _**the picture seemed to say, **_"Look at how she has her arms wrapped around his neck."_**

"Maybe she is free and no longer holding on," he argued back.  His eyebrows furrowed (a/n: or is it burrowed?) deeply and shook his head, _'I'm think I'm gonna go crazy.'  He took one more look at the picture and stuffed it in his pants again.  _'No use in talking to a picture, I'll find out soon enough,'_ he thought.  _

  
A/N:  Go ahead and flame.  I don't mind; this chapter isn't as well written as it's supposed to be.  So go for it.  


	7. Paul Shiner

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

A/N:  School has started, so I'm not updating as often.  I'll try to update once a week depending on if I have time or not.  Thank you for all you reviewers out there.  I am actually satisfied with this chapter because it has action to it, and I think I write action pact chapters much better than I could right waffy chapters.  Enjoy! 

Chapter 6

            "Everything is going smooth so far," Samuel muttered to himself.  He stretched in his chair and returned to monitoring the masquerade party through dozens of screens.  On every screen, there were people talking happily and dance floors being over crowded.  

            "Everyone is partying except me," he said vehemently thinking of about his friends having fun.  

            knock knock

            "Hmm…maybe it's Don coming to take over my shift," he said hoping it was Don, so he can finally go have some fun of his own.  He eagerly opened the door to find a man dressed in a slim black suit with a white silk tie.  The white matched his silver tresses sticking out of his top hat.   The man wore a white mask disguising half of his face only showing the bottom half of his face.  

            "Hey Don, ready to take my place?" Samuel asked.  Don nodded to Samuel's question.

            "Okay, just let me get my coat and I'll be off," Samuel said happily.  He turned his back on Don and started off to the desk to get his coat hanging on the chair.  Don followed Samuel to the desk.  When Samuel turned around, Don was blocking Samuel's way.  

            "Excuse me," Samuel said trying to shoulder his way out but failed as Don moved in on him.  

            "What the hell are you doing?" Samuel asked frustrated from Don's odd behaviors.  

            Don pushed Samuel into the chair and drew his knife out.  With one quick motion, Don covered Samuel's mouth and drew out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.  Samuel tried to scream but all his attempts were muffled by Don's hand.  Don pushed the knife deeper in Samuel's chest, turning the knife as he skewered it deeply into his heart.  Samuel's body sat lifeless in the chair.  Don turned the chair around to face it towards the screen and adjusted the body in the chair too look like the person was still alive from the back.  He disabled all the security cameras and put in a recorded disk into the machine to play what happened two hours ago on the screen and walked out of the room casually as if nothing has happened.  He took a turn to another hallway and took the elevator to exit from the scene.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

            'I wonder where he is,' Faye thought looking around at the endless amount of similar dressed men at the party.  All of the men were dressed in black.  Black, black, black; that's the color she saw everywhere.  'How the hell am I suppose to tell which one is him?' Frustrated by the thought, Faye took another drink of the wine she had in her hand.  The wine went smoothly down her throat, caressing it gently before it made its way down into her body.  It was a soothing feeling for Faye.  She was bored as hell at the party sitting around doing nothing but making small talk to men who came to her and tried to get her to dance; but she always declined by saying she didn't feel so well.  She desperately needed to talk to someone she knew, and her friend, Mel, was nowhere to be found.  'Heh, she's always late,' Faye thought as she took another sip.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

            "Tell me where Shawn is and your life shall be spared," the man that was in the security room earlier said.  

            "I…I don't know," a guy answered.  He was cornered and he didn't know what to do.  He decided to take out his gun, which turned out to be a bad mistake when the man cornering him took his gun swiftly and reversed it and shot the guy.  

            "That wasn't a good enough answer," the man said.  He took the guy's ID as well as the gun with him just in case anything like that comes up again.  He hid the body behind a bunch of boxes in a corner.   The security was really tight tonight, because they didn't let anyone in with a weapon.  Only the guards there tonight can carry guns.  Even the knife he used to kill Samuel with earlier was stolen from the kitchen.  

            He walked through the basement calmly, acting like he was one of the guards taking a break from the party.  All guards were made to dress up for the occasion; the only difference between them and the others was that they had to wear earpieces at all times.  He took the guy's earpiece and stuck it on.  He stopped and opened the door to the weapon room as if he knew the hotel inside and out, thanks to the blueprint of the hotel he had stolen earlier from the security headquarter on the top floor of the hotel.  There was no one in the room; all guards were out surveilling the grounds.  He quickly took several packs of bullets and left the room and started to head for the elevator to go back up to the private party where all the syndicate leaders were.  'I have a feeling I'm going to need this tonight.'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

            "Oh really, so you're from Earth as well?" Faye said dully.  She was trying really hard not to fall asleep on this guy.  Even with the good looks the guy had, it was not good enough to keep Faye interested.

            "Yup!  Oh, it's so hard to find someone from Earth nowadays.  It's such a trashy place…,' he said, but to Faye's ears, everything he said became a string of words jumbled together.  She couldn't help but to cover her mouth and yawn after listening to the guy talk for what seemed like hours.  Faye had enough; she pardoned herself politely from the conversation to get a few more drinks.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

            "My stomach isn't feeling so well.  Wait outside.  I'll be taking a while and I don't like you fools to be in there with me," the man ordered his guards.  He was rather big and round like a ball with a very short stature.  When he walked, he looked like an overweight penguin.  The man carried a cane to assist himself in walking.  His two guards nodded uniformly and stood by the door to wait for their boss to take care of his business.  

            The man walked slowly into the restroom with heavy footsteps.  He walked past several stalls before he heard a flush behind him.  'I thought my men made sure there was no one here,' he thought.  He turned around slowly and headed to where he heard a flush.  When he was right in front of the closed stall with an "out of order" paper stuck on it, the door flew open and a shot rang loudly in the room.  

            The two guards immediately ran into the restroom to find their boss dead on the floor.  

            "Mr. Fawner!" one of the guards yelled as he shook his leader to see if any signs of life would show, but Mr. Fawner was dead.  The guards checked the stalls again but found no trace of the killer.  Then he walked slowly to the stall that said it was out of order.  He and the other guard reached for their guns readying themselves to shoot whoever was in there.  One of the guards kicked open the door, and then both of them started randomly shooting until they ran out of bullets.  Then they realized that there was no one there, and sigh in relief.  They turned around at the same time to find two guns pointed at each of their heads at point blank.

            "I jumped over to the other stall after you've checked it," he said and pulled the triggers of the two guns before any of them could say anything.  He didn't even bothered hiding the bodies.  Instead, he took removed the "out of order" paper from the stall and walked out of the restroom to place it on the front door.  When he walked out of the restroom to place the sign on the door, a man came walking towards him.  He looked as sturdy and strong as a tree with hard features on his face.  His face looked of all serious and no fun.  

            "Have you seen Mr. Fawner?" the man asked in a harsh deep voice.  

            "I haven't seen him.  He must've gone to another restroom due to this one being broken and the toilet is over flooding in there," he answered calmly.  The man eyed him suspiciously up and down. 

            "Which syndicate are you from?" the man asked

            "Red Dragon.  I'm guarding this floor tonight," he said.

            "Let me see your ID," the man said.

            "Here you go," he said, handing the man his ID.  

            "Paul Shiner," the man muttered looking at the ID carefully, "So how old are you?"

            Before the man knew what was coming to him, he was knocked unconscious.  "Paul" dragged the body into the restroom as well and resumed back to posting the "out of order" sign in front of the restroom.  

            "So far so good," he said to himself as he took the elevator down to floor for the employees' party, "Now for the real fun."

A/N: So what do you think?  Please note this is my first draft.  I didn't feel like revising it.  


	8. On Watch

**Disclaimer:  Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.  **

School is a fcuker (purposely misspelled).  Argh.  I hate almost all of my classes…especially chemistry!  ARGH.  Anyways, here's the next chapter.  Hope it isn't as bad as the other chapters.  I'm trying to thicken the plot a little bit with a new character.  Haha, hopefully it works.  

To Osa:  I'm really stunned to hear anyone wanting to put my fic on their site.  You have my permission to do so.  I still can't believe you would want to host this fic on your site. 

Once again, thank you to all my reviewers.  Without you guys, I wouldn't know how to improve my story, and I certainly wouldn't have continued on with it.  Thank you!  

**Chapter 7  ~First Draft~**

            Vicious walked down the hallway leisurely and was just about to open the door to the party within, but was stopped by one of the guards.  

            "Hey, where do you think you're going?" the guard said.

            "To the party of course," Vicious said.  

            "Haven't you heard the news?!  There's no time to party now; there's an intruder at this party.  We must seek him out immediately," the guard said frantically.  

            "An intruder?" Vicious asked pretending to be interested. 

            "Yes, a top assassin I heard.  He killed several of our highest ranking men.  We must stay alert at all times or else our lives will be endangered as well," warned the guard.  

            "Wow, he must be really good then," Vicious wondered.  

            "Not good enough.  He made one mistake," the guard said.

            "Oh?  And what's that?" Vicious questioned.

            "He accidentally left one guy alive.  I guess the assassin isn't so top after all," the guard chuckled, "Come on, follow me.  We must get back to the headquarters for new objectives."

            "Yes, we should," Vicious said as he followed the guard down the hallway.  Just as they were passing a dimly lit corner, Vicious wrapped his arm around the guard's neck from the back and used his other hand to pull out his gun.  Vicious gently pushed the head of the gun at the guard's head.  

            "I would never leave anyone alive accidentally.  There's a reason for everything I do," Vicious said coolly.  

            "You're…the assassin!" the guard exclaimed as he tried to struggle out of Vicious' grip.  

            "Be careful there or your neck is going to break," Vicious warned, tightening his grip on the guard's neck.  This made the guard stop immediately.  

            "What do you want?" he asked.  

            "Where's Shawn?" Vicious asked.

            "Shawn's not here…today," the guard gasped.

            "Where can I find him then," Vicious questioned.

            "He's usually…at the…new…casino…," the guard muttered, "Now that…I've told…you…can you…let me go?"

            "Like I said earlier, I only keep the people I need in my plans alive," Vicious said as he pulled the trigger.  With a bang, the guard fell to the floor. 

            "At least, it was a quick death," Vicious said looking at the dead body on the ground with blood splattered on the wall.  'Never mind cleaning up.' Vicious turned away from the dead body to find someone was watching the whole time.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

            'I've had enough of waiting for that stupid bastard.  I can't believe I even waited for him to show his face.  I swear, the only reason I ever thought he was sexy was when I had too many drinks,' she though as she got up to take a walk around the building, 'Enough of the party, I need some air."

            As she walked around the floor, she noticed two men standing in the corner.  Being the curious Faye she was, she walked up closer to what was going on.  'Hmm…some man to man action going on?" she wondered when she saw one of the men had his arms wrapped around the other.   She still couldn't see what was going on, so she took a few more steps closer.  To her surprise, the man was holding a gun aimed at the other guy's head.  Within several seconds, a bang was heard through the hallway as one of the men fell to the floor.  

Faye couldn't believe her eyes.  'What the hell is going on?'  Just as Faye was about get the hell out of the place, the man turned around and caught Faye's frightened gaze.  

Before the man could do anything, Faye turned around and started to around.  She darted around the corner towards the elevator.  

"God damn it!  Hurry the fuck up!" she cursed.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

            Seeing the woman taking off, Vicious ran after her.  The woman suddenly made an abrupt turn, which threw Vicious off a little bit but not enough to lose her.  'Not bad,' he thought, 'but not good enough either.'  He stopped running when he saw the woman frantically pushing the buttons for the elevator to come.  

            "I guess, it's just not your luck tonight," Vicious said.  

            The woman turned around to meet Vicious' evil grin with her own.  

            "Hmm, is that so?" she asked as she turned around to knock the gun out of his hand, but instead, she knocked his mask off revealing his identity to her. 

            "Damn you," he said as he knocked her out with the butt of his gun.  

            "It's…y-you," she muttered before she fell into unconsciousness.   

            'Me?' he wondered.  Vicious looked at the woman close; the figure was strangely familiar, but he couldn't match it to a name.  He reached for her mask but was stopped by the footsteps heard not far away.  Vicious could hear footsteps rushing to where he has killed the guard.  'Shit, gotta go,' he thought.  He left the matter as that and the woman behind.  As stealthily as he came, he left without a trace except for the dead bodies behind.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

            "Miss?! Are you okay?" The guard shook Faye gently, hoping for her to wake up soon.  

            "Argh…" Faye muttered trying to shake the stars out of her sight.  

            "Miss, you've been unconscious for a while," the guard informed her.

            "I'm okay…," Faye said, slowing registering what had happened.  She realized that she was no longer at the party anymore.  Instead, she's lying on a hospital bed.  

            "Did you get a chance to see the killer?  We need as much information as we can to seek the intruder out," he questioned.

            Not wanting to snitch Vicious out, Faye lied to the guard and told him she didn't see anything.  She was just taking a walk around the hotel, and all of a sudden was knocked out.  The guard regarded her suspiciously.  He was so sure he heard some struggling going on before he got to the site to see the unconscious Faye on the floor.  

            "It would be wise for you to speak the truth.  We will guarantee your safety if you do," he said with a slight undertone of warning.  

            "I'm sorry, but I am telling you the truth when I said I didn't see anything," she said.  If one did not know Faye, one would believe everything she said, but the man was very shrewd.  He knew Faye must've heard something or interacted with the intruder.  Otherwise, he wouldn't have walked over that particular area of the room if he didn't hear some sort of commotion going on.  

            "Okay, thank you very much then.  We're sorry to see your night ruined by this.  The doctor said you'll be able to leave by tomorrow once they've confirmed you are feeling well enough to leave.  Good night miss," the guard said and stood from the chair beside the bed, heading for the door.  

            "Thank you," Faye muttered slightly perplexed by the way the guard was acting.  Something didn't feel right; why did the guard keep insisting that Faye knew something?  'Maybe he knows,' she thought.  'I must find Vicious and tell him that someone is onto him…but how am I gonna find him?'

            As the guard softly closed the door to Faye's room, the two men stood on the side of waiting for him.  

            "Watch over her.  I'm sure she knows something, but she just won't say it.  I heard her struggling with the intruder, but she told me that she was attacked from behind.  See if anything is out of the norm and report to back to me immediately," the guard informed the two men.

            "Yes sir," the two replied in unison.

            "We must keep this incident away from the boss' ears.  This shall be taken care of before he returns from his trip to Venus," he ordered.

            "Yes sir," the two replied acknowledging the great task they are given to complete.  

            "If everything is understood here, I shall leave immediately.  The Grey Wolves Syndicate isn't so happy with their dead leader," he muttered as he left the hospital with a grim expression.  'This is surely a sign…' he thought walking out of the hospital to be greeted with the grey clouds looming over his head.  

A/N:  I'll try to get the nxt chapter up asap.


	9. Doctor

A/N: WOW! I'm still alive you guys! I really thought of letting this story go, but after looking reading through it again and seeing how many of you readers have supported me even though my writing is SO bad, I'm going to resurrect this story! I love you reviewers!

I'm trying to get my feel back for this story. This chapter is going to be short, but I hop you guys like it. Enjoy!

…………………………………………………………………………………………

**Chapter 9: Doctor**

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When the guard left Faye's room, two guards stood stiffly by the door. The hallway was filled with silence. Every now and then, the footsteps of a nurse or a doctor could be heard breaking through the thick silence of the death filled air.

"Where do you think you're going," one of the guards asked as he raised his hands to block a doctor from entering Faye's room.

"I need to check up on this patient," the doctor replied.

"Why do you have a doctor's mask on?" ask the other guard, eyeing the doctor suspiciously.

"I just came from visiting the patient next door. He's caught a contagious virus. I advise you to wear a mask too if you want to live. The virus basically eats up your whole brain. By the time they're done, you're nothing but a vegetable."

The explanation put shock in the two guard's face. Their hands ran up to cover their noses and mouths immediately.

"Alright, go in. Make it quick," one of the guards said. The words were muffled by his hand, but the doctor caught the gist of it and pushed the door open to see his patient.

"How are you doing miss?" the doctor asked as he looked around the room.

"I'm okay, doc. You think I can leave soon?" she said with her face turned away from the doctor.

"I'll have to see about that…How fast you want to leave this place?" he asked. Not knowing what he meant by the meaning of his question.

"You know what doc, I'm not sure I quite understand…" she said as she turned herself around to face the doctor. Instead of seeing the doctor holding his stethoscope ready to check up on her, she sees the silver glint of a katana coming down at her.

………………………………………………………………………………

A/N: yeah, I know this chapter is very short. If any one of you is confused, this chapter is basically Vicious' pov when Faye was in the hospital…meaning this happened while Faye was unconscious or awake talking to the guy. Hope you guys enjoyed this short chapter. I just wanted to start slow and then get back into the story writing mode. Hehehe.


	10. Tempo

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"_How are you doing miss?" the doctor asked as he looked around the room._

"_I'm okay, doc. You think I can leave soon?" she said with her face turned away from the doctor._

"_I'll have to see about that…How fast you want to leave this place?" he asked. Not knowing what he meant by the meaning of his question._

"_You know what doc, I'm not sure I quite understand…" she said as she turned herself around to face the doctor. Instead of seeing the doctor holding his stethoscope ready to check up on her, she sees the silver glint of a katana coming down at her._

………………………………………………..

**Chapter 9: Tempo**

………………………………………………..

The blade stopped merely two inches away from Faye's head. Surprised green eyes met shocked navy ones. Faye wonders if it's just fate or just plain bad luck that every time she sees Vicious dangerous objects are involved.

"This is bad for my health doc. My heart can't stand these kinds of grand appearances that you always make," Faye commented in her sarcastic tone. Vicious eyes flashed with amusement. Then a glint of mischievousness appeared in his eyes.

"Really Faye? Maybe I should give you a check-up. Afterall…I am your doctor. I need to examine you to make sure you're healthy enough to leave," he said slyly. Faye caught on to his implications and blushed. Her face was tinted with a hint of pink. Vicious found Faye incredibly irresistible. The dash of pink on her snow white skin, her eyes looking away from his gaze to hide her uneasiness, and her soft pink lips combined together made a magnificent sight. _'Beautiful,'_ he thought, _'She looks so naïve and cute, like a shy teenage girl.' _

Faye felt Vicious' unwavering gaze on her. Her heart skipped a beat and her cheeks began to redden in color. _'Damn it. Pull it together, Faye! So many guys had looked at you with desire before, and you played it cool at all times. What the hell is this now? You're blushing like a little girl. Get over it. Look at him in the eye and be yourself!'_ her mind yelled. Faye forced herself to meet Vicious' gaze. It was too hard to look into Vicious' eyes because they were filled with desire and something else….affection? _'Nah, this guy is a player,'_ she reasoned, _'Okay, be yourself!'_ She smiled seductively at Vicious, tilting her head to the side. Faye opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Hey, doctor. Can you hurry up?" one of the guards asked behind the door.

Reluctantly, Vicious answered, "I'll be out in a second." Never did he leave his eyes off of Faye. Finally, Vicious said, "I promise I'll finish the check up some other time Faye. So long for now." With that said, Vicious left her room. Faye lied there thinking about Vicious' promise. Just thinking about it makes her spine curl. She pulled the blanket over her head and tried to block Vicious out of her mind. _'I think I'm going crazy. Haha…crazy for Vicious? Yeah right.'_

………………………………………………………………..

"She is under our constant surveillance Mr. Madrick. I just came from her hospital room," the guard reported.

"Good job Evan. Get Shawn to my office right now."

"Yes, Sir!" Evan backed away from Madrick's desk and turned to exit the room. Several minutes later, he reappeared with Shawn next to him.

"Looking for me?" Shawn asked nonchalantly. He plopped onto the chair in front of Madrick's desk without even asking and lazily drew a cigarette out for a smoke. Evan approached the desk carefully and sat down next to Shawn. He sat with his back straight and eyes on Madrick, waiting dutifully for Madrick to give him tasks to carry out. Evans and Shawn are total opposites of each other. While one gives off the "I don't give a shit" attitude, the other gives off an attentive and obedient aura. Although they are nothing alike, both are the syndicate's prized possessions after the resurrection of the Red Dragon. Madrick eyed the two closely, who would've thought they were brothers? He mentally laughed at the thought.

"I have assignments for the two of you," Madrick said. Evan looked at him expectantly while Shawn continued on with his smoke.

"Go on," Shawn prodded. "I hope it's something good this time."

"Shawn, I want you to see if you can get any information on the killer that appeared at the masquerade party a few nights ago. Your only lead is the woman who had an encounter with him, Faye Valentine. I'm tired of wasting my men watching over her. They're not getting anything, so you're going to do the job," Madrick slipped a manila folder to Shawn as he finished his explanation. Madrick then turned to Evan and started to brief over his assignment.

"Evan, you will be accompanying me to the Grey Wolves syndicate headquarters. Since you were the head of the security for the party, they want to talk to you." Evan nodded his head slightly while Shawn took a look at the folder handed to him. Inside the folder was information on Faye, with a picture of her in her famous yellow attire. Shawn gave out a low whistle.

"Working at the Lucky Charms Casino…that's my favorite place to be," Shawn smirked.

"She's full of trouble," Evan warned.

"I like trouble."

……………………………………………………………..

"You're in deep trouble," Faye smiled as she revealed her cards, a full house. The man sitting at the table had nothing but a pair of ten. He lost all his money in this round. Defeated, he left the table with his head hung low.

"Good luck next time," Faye called at the man's retreating back. She looked at the crowd that formed around her table.

"Would any one of you like to play a game of poker with me?" she asked sweetly. None of the people wanted to sit and play after seeing her win so many rounds. Slowly, everyone started inching away from the table, leaving Faye all alone.

"I'll play," came a voice from the crowd. A young man emerged from the group of people and sat in the nearest seat by Faye. She gave the young man a glance over…tall and built, not too bulky, but chiseled like a rock. He wore dark denim and a black close-fitting knitted sweater. You can see the shape of his arms and chest and how built they were. His raven black hair was short, layered to the back of neck; his bangs fell around his mischievous eyes, accentuating them. If Faye was the female version of trouble, this man sitting at the table, was the male version of it.

The man placed 200,000 woolongs worth of chips onto the table. "Hey there," he said with a smile on his face.

"Hi, you're in for a game of poker?" she asked teasingly.

"Actually, that and something else," he smirked.

"And what would that something else be?"

"Since you're so gorgeous, I would like to add a date with a beauty like you into this game," he suggested.

"And what happens if I win?"

"You can do anything you want with me."

"You're on," she said as she started dealing the cards. _ 'Having a slave wouldn't be so bad; he can clean my house,'_ she thought amusingly. Faye looked at her final cards smugly.

"Straight flush" There was no way she would lose with her cards. All the spectators gawked at her cards. The guy was doomed. "There's no chance in hell that he'll beat her" one of the men in the crowd commented. Faye's eyes lit up as she remembered herself as Poker Alice. _'That's right pretty boy. Bow down to your master and admit defeat.'_

"Well, I guess hell just froze over," the man at the table suggested. The whole table came to silence. The tension filled air weighed down on everyone. Faye thought it was ridiculous. The man was nothing; he couldn't pull anything on her. Wanting the break the heavy mood at the table, Faye decided to say something, anything.

"What?" Faye asked incredulously.

The man revealed his hand. Royal flush. He looked up at Faye and gave her a smug smile.

"I guess I'm too good of a guy for hell." Faye looked at the cards before him. She felt disgusted with herself. _'No cheating…yeah right. I should've cheated my way through this game. Playing fair and square just gets you nowhere.'_ The man stood up from his seat.

"I'll be picking you up on Friday after your work," he eyed her name tag "…Miss Faye Valentine." Turning his back towards her, he started to walk towards the exit. He stopped after several steps and turned his head over his shoulder.

"You can keep the 200,000 woolongs. Go buy yourself something to nice to wear for our date." He was about to keep on walking but Faye stopped him with her words.

"I don't date guys with no names."

The guy looked at her and saw an irritated look plastered on her face. Slightly irritated with a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Shawn…Shawn Vonaren," he said as he took in the beauty of the woman standing before him. Shawn proceeded to the exit without look back again. A smirk played on his lips the whole time he walked away from the table. _'I'll definitely be having fun with this pretty thing.' _

………………………………………………………….

'_Shawn Vonaren…what a jerk…'_ she thought. Because of him, she decided to take a day off from work. _'Come and pick me up on Friday night after my shift? Hah…I don't think so. **You can't pick me up if I'm not there**.'_ Spooning another scoop of ice cream into her mouth, Faye smiled happily as her eyes glued themselves onto the TV. A day of lounging and eating…it's a day in heaven.

……………………………………………………………….

Faye stretched herself out on the couch. Looking at the clock on the wall, she realized that she slept the whole day away.

Knock knock.

'_What the hell…'_ Mind still groggy from sleep, Faye pushed herself up from the couched and sluggishly walked to the door. Uninterested in the person behind the door, Faye tried to close it but was stopped by a strong hand blocking the door from closing.

"Not even a 'hi' for your date?"

Faye glared at the man before her. "How did you know where I live?"

"Well, one of your co-workers was nice enough to provide me your address," Shawn replied smoothly.

"You must've bribed them," she replied with a tone of voice laced with ice.

"Faye, not everything can be bought with money. You, my dear, definitely cannot be bought. I merely told your co-worker that I was devastated to hear of your illness since tonight was our first date together," Shawn said with fake concern in his voice, knowing full well that she was just trying to avoid him.

"Well, you heard my co-worker. I'm not feeling well so the date is cancelled," Faye said, trying to play it off.

"I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. And if you're sick tomorrow, I'll wait until the day after tomorrow. I'm a patient man," Shawn replied coolly. He looked at Faye in the eyes conveying the message that there was no way of escaping this date with him. Faye glared at him. Shawn smirked at her glare. How despicable.

"No, you know what; I'm feeling much better after a day's rest. I believe I can go out tonight. After seeing your pretty face and how earnest you are about the date, I don't want to let you down. I'll go get ready just for you," she said with dripping sarcasm.

"That's wonderful. Luckily, I didn't cancel my reservations at eight at this restaurant I wanted to take you to," he said happily. Shawn glanced at his platinum watch. "You have exactly one hour to get ready. Semi-formal attire required."

"Alright, see you in an hour," she said as she closed the door. However, Shawn still had his hand on the door with half of his weight leaning on it.

"Aren't you going to invite me into your place to wait for you?" he asked innocently. Faye could not stand this guy. She was in no mood to play around with him. She turned around and walked into her room to get ready, leaving Shawn at the door.

'_Guys are just jerks. Best to steer far away from them so they don't break your heart in the end,'_ she thought as she started changing into an aquamarine satin halter dress that fell on the right curves of her body with the hem flowing gently down to her knees. It was one of the more conservative dresses that Faye owned. No cleavage at all. But the dress still accentuated her body nonetheless. In that dress, she was a high-class beauty who knows that she doesn't need to show skin to turn heads. Faye pulled her hair together up into a tousled bun and secured it with a few jeweled pins. She put on some silver drop earrings and a matching necklace with a silver bar pendant resting beautifully at the center. She debated on whether if she should wear any makeup or not, but since she was planning to empty his wallet with the most expensive courses offered at the restaurant, she decided to at least make herself to-die-for gorgeous just for his money. She lightly powdered her skin and brushed some silver shadow onto her eyes. She then applied a little blush and a deep red color onto her lips. To finish everything off, she wrapped a matching scarf around her neck and slipped into a pair of silver stilettos. Grabbing a silver purse in her drawer, she stuffed her keys in and walked out into the living room to look for Shawn.

………………………………………………..

Shawn was absolutely stunned by the woman standing before him. He had never seen a beauty like her in his life. His mouth dropped slight from his surprise. Faye smirked at him.

"I see you like what you see," she teased.

Shawn did not answer her for he was still in a shocked state of mind. In his eyes, he saw a goddess standing right there waiting for him. He shook his head out of the dream state and smiled at Faye. He walked up to her slowly and offered his hand to her.

"The word 'beautiful' cannot even describe how you look right now. I would love to stay here forever and dwell on your beauty, but we have reservations," he said. Faye eyed Shawn as she took his hand and walked out of the door. _'Trying to be sweet I see,'_ she thought, _'Well, we'll see how sweet you will be when I drain your wallet dry._' On the other hand, Shawn was deep in his thoughts as well. _I'm starting to like this 'assignment' more and more by the second,'_ Shawn mused as he entered the elevator with Faye.

The ride down the elevator was a silent one. When they exited the apartment building, Shawn guided Faye towards a sleek black car that speaks of power and class with its luxurious look. Faye raised her eyebrow slightly. _'Just how rich is this guy?'_ she wondered. Shawn, being the smooth man he was, opened the door for Faye and ushered her in. While Shawn walked around the to driver's side, Faye looked at the car's interior. Smooth black leather seats, no junk anywhere. This man is classy, hot, rich, cocky, and clean. What more does a girl want? Suddenly, an image of a silver haired ice cold killer popped into her mind. _'My gosh…what the hell is happening to me?'_ she mentally exclaimed. Faye mentally scolded herself for thinking of Vicious, but deep in some corner of her mind, her thoughts were on Vicious. _'I wonder where he is right now…'_ Faye broke out of her reverie when she felt a hand gently shaking her arm

"Huh?" Faye asked as she tried to locate where she was at the moment.

"Are you alright?" Shawn asked with concern in his eyes_. 'Maybe she is sick and wasn't lying.' _ Faye looked at him slightly surprised to see that he was actually concerned of her well being.

"Uh…yeah. I'm fine," she smiled. Shawn kept his eyes locked onto hers, trying to see if she was lying or not. Faye suddenly broke their eye contact by looking out the car window, so Shawn decided to drop the subject and head to the restaurant. He glanced at the time as he started his car. Seven forty-five. It takes about half an hour to get there, and the reservation was at eight.

"Fasten your seatbelt," he said as he floored the gas pedal and sped off into the night.

……………………………………………………………..

Moving silently among the shadows of the walls, Vicious followed one the Red Dragons member in the Lucky Charms Casino. He had no luck in finding Shawn anywhere tonight, the night he decided to end that asshole's life. Shawn made a mistake and the only way he can pay for it was with his life. Two other men were approaching towards Vicious, so he turned back to the corner and pressed his body into the wall, shielding himself in the shadows of the dark corner. The man he was following earlier approached the two, and started to talk about the day's work.

"Man, I wish I was Shawn," one of the men stated, "He's so lucky. He's out on a date with some hot chick right now."

"Haha, you're so jealous because no one wants you," another man replied, causing the third to laugh boisterously.

"Shut up," said the first angrily, "I heard he's taking her to some ritzy restaurant that none of us can afford with our paychecks put together. I think the name of the restaurant is called Tempo."

"Wow," the third one muttered, "I wish I was a hot sexy woman. Then I won't have to work. I can just live off of my man's money like that girl who's with Shawn."

"The hot and sexy part you need to work on. But the girl part…no need to worry man, you're already a girl or at least you act like one," said the first jokingly. The third man stood dumbfounded and red with embarrassment as the two others laughed their heads off. They were so busy laughing or being angry that they did not notice a shadow leaving in the corner.

Vicious has the information he needed. There was no more need to stay, so he left as silently as he came without anyone noticing.

On his way out of the building, he remembered suddenly that Faye worked at the Lucky Charms Casino. _'Maybe I should pay her a little visit,' _he thought as his eyes scanned the various crowds in the casino. Faye was nowhere to be found. Known as a man that never cared for anything or anyone, Vicious decided to do something that he himself couldn't believe he was doing; he went to ask an employee where Faye was.

"Ah…Faye? She's called in sick today. Not feeling too well I heard," answered one of the dealer, "Would you like me to relay a message to her?"

"No thank you," Vicious replied. Without saying another word, he left the casino leaving the dealer with a puzzle look on his face. "Not even a name left behind for me to tell Faye," he muttered as he returned to his work.

………………………………………………

'_So this is the Tempo'_ Vicious thought as he looked at the restaurant in front of him. Couples were walking in dressed in expensive garments. Vicious was dress as well as the others, if not, even better in his black suit and black silk tie. He patted the black wig on his head to make sure it was in the right place; he didn't want to draw anyone's attention with his shocking silver hair. As soon as anyone figured out that Vicious was still alive, it would be harder for him to carry out his plans. Without further adieu, Vicious pushed the glass door open and stepped into the restaurant.

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An: Hahahaha. sings: Who loves cliffhanger? I love cliffhanger! Yay, FINALLY another chapter up. I finally have an idea where this story is going! Summer school and work is preventing me from updating as fast as I want to. Don't worry, I will try my best to get the next chapter out asap. Yes, I know, Vicious has so many disguises! But who can blame him? With his hotness, people anywhere would be able to recognize him if he doesn't disguise himself. Hehehe…fans will be stalking him…like me! Hahaha. Sorry, just a lil too hyper right now from toooo much chocolate.

Thank you readers and reviewers!

**ShadowCrow25**: I'm glad you think my fic is good, because I'm really skeptical about my own writing. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**kaelin77**: I know what you mean! I've read some fics that I've really enjoyed and they have no endings! It makes me sad. I'm gonna make sure I'll finish this fic, but I don't know if it'll make you sad or not since I have thought of a pretty teary ending for this fic. But, I'm not sure of anything right now. Hahaha.

**Picon**: Definitely not enough faye/vicious fics out there. I really hope people start doing more alt pairings.

**Lydrel**: You know, that sneezing thing actually happened to someone I know…cough cough looks away…uh yeah…someone I know……

**ViciousNFaye**: Your name rocks! Yay for Vicious N Faye! You're the best!

I love all you reviewers! Please keep on reviewing and suggesting any scenes or plot twists you would like to read!


	11. Feelings Revealed

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'_So this is the Tempo'_ Vicious thought as he looked at the restaurant in front of him. Couples were walking in dressed in expensive garments. Vicious was dress as well as the others, if not, even better in his black suit and black silk tie. He patted the black wig on his head to make sure it was in the right place; he didn't want to draw anyone's attention with his shocking silver hair. As soon as anyone figured out that Vicious was still alive, it would be harder for him to carry out his plans. Without further adieu, Vicious pushed the glass door open and stepped into the restaurant.

……………………………………………………

**Chapter 10: Feelings Revealed**

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Faye glanced at the man sitting across from her. He did not even flinched when she ordered every dessert on the menu after ordering a giant meal that cost well over an average person's monthly salary. After handing the dessert menu back to the waiter, Faye turned to him.

"I absolutely love dessert and I would like to try every one of them. I hope you don't mind," she beamed with a big smile on her face.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. Who doesn't love dessert?" Shawn smiled back. The dinner had turned out great in his opinion. Faye stopped giving him rude remarks and actually started talking to him like a normal person would. Things were going better than planned. At first, Shawn thought Faye was a loose woman playing hard to get. But as he talked to her more, Shawn picked up some clues that she was a woman with a dark tragic past that turned her into who she was. He stopped estimating her and began to really respect her as an equal. Worry suddenly etched all over Shawn's face. Was he becoming interested in Faye? He couldn't be…or could he? If he did fall for Faye, what harm would come out of it? _'Nothing,'_ he answered himself trying to stop him mind from conjuring more questions.

Noticing the change of expression on Shawn's face, Faye quirked up one of her eyebrows. _'What's up with him?'_ she thought.

"Hey, something's wrong?" asked Faye as her lips turned from a smile into a tight line of concern.

Shawn's stormy grey eyes widen slightly from being caught off guard. Not knowing what to say, he suddenly blurted, "I was just worried that you might get sick again from all those dessert. After all, I heard from your co-worker that you've just came out of the hospital."

Faye looked at him oddly. _'Is he serious? If he is, he must be stupid.'_ A soft chuckle escaped from her thought about ending up in the hospital for eating too much heavenly dessert. At least it was better than getting knocked unconscious by **him**.

"Are you kidding me?" Faye asked with laughter in her voice, "Hospitalized for overdose of dessert?"

"Hey, it can happen," he defended.

"Possibly, but it sounds ridiculous because something that good never happens to me," she said as she took a sip of water from her glass.

Seeing it as a chance to ask her about the incident to find out if she had any clues on the killer, Shawn decided to ask, "So why did you end up in the hospital? Your co-worker didn't tell me."

"I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," she answered. Seeing that it wouldn't satisfy Shawn's question, she offered a further explanation. "I saw a dead body in the hallway of a party I attended a couple weeks ago. When I turned away to run from the scene, someone grabbed me from the back. I struggled to get out of his grasp. Before I knew it, I was out cold. When I woke up, I was in the hospital." Her explanation came out so smoothly that one could not detect a hint of deceit in it. Poker Alice was Poker Alice; she had the perfect poker face.

Shawn observed her closely. Faye didn't sound like she was lying so he concluded that she must have not seen the man responsible for the deaths of his fellow workers. The waiter and three servers came walking towards their table. Dessert finally arrived. Faye's eyes lit up with joy when eight beautiful plates of dessert from cake to ice cream sat on the table before her, waiting for her to devour while Shawn only ordered a cup of coffee. Faye looked up at the waiter and thanked him for his service. As she thanked the man, Faye caught someone looking at her from the corner of her eyes. A couple of tables in back of Shawn sat a man looking at them. The man immediately averted his eyes to his dinner when he noticed Faye was looking at him. _'He looks familiar, but I don't remember meeting a guy like him before,' _she thought as she took a bite into her strawberry cheesecake. Unable to register the man's face with anyone she knew, Faye decided to let the matter drop and labeled the man as just another one her admirers. Nothing could ruin her tasty meal tonight.

……………………………………………..

Vicious started the cut the piece of steak before him in a rather roughly manner. He was not happy with the situation he was in tonight. In fact, not happy wouldn't even describe it; he was furious. Two tables in front of him was the sickening sight of Faye with Shawn. So she's Shawn's girlfriend. Wonderful…how wonderful it would be to drive that knife he had in his hand into the back of that man sitting in table with Faye. Vicious tried to take a sip of wine to calm his nerves, but he nearly choked when he saw the scene before him.

…………………………………………….

Shawn stood up and offered his hand to Faye, "May I?" Faye took his hand and followed him to the dance floor. As they glided through the dance floor, moving beautifully with the music, Faye caught the man she saw earlier glaring daggers at them. Before Faye could take a closer look, she was whisked into another direction. _'That man is so familiar….where had I seen him before?'_ The question stuck in Faye's mind. She stole another glance at the man's direction. Then the answer struck her head as fast as lightning. Faye felt lightheaded and her knees began to buckle. Vicious was less than 200 feet away from them sending out death glares. She felt like bolting for the nearest exit, but her legs weren't responding to her demands. The next thing she knew, an arm wrapped her waist tightly holding her in place.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were going to faint," Shawn asked softly in Faye's ears. Faye felt the heat rising to her cheeks. It wasn't from the closeness she was experiencing with Shawn; it was the fact that Vicious was glaring at them and watching how close they were.

"Faye?" Shawn asked again, breaking Faye from her thoughts, "You look a little flustered."

"Shawn, I'm not feeling too well," she mustered. _'God, get me out of this place,'_ she thought.

"You don't look too well," he muttered with concern written all over his face, "Let's go. You need to go home and rest." With that said, Shawn led Faye out the door, never realizing how close he was to Death that night.

………………………………………..

The ride back to Faye's place was a silent one. Neither party felt like talking. Faye thoughts were back at the restaurant where Vicious was, and Shawn was in his own world thinking about how there were absolutely no leads to the identity of the killer. The car came to a sudden halt, breaking Faye from her reverie.

"We're here."

Faye said her thanks and was about to leave the vehicle when Shawn grasped her wrist.

"I hope we can get together some other time," he said. Not sure of giving him a definite answer, Faye decided to play it safe. She gave him her infamous smirk stepped out the door. Before she closed it she said, "We'll see about that." With that she turned away and walked into the building. After making sure that she had entered safely into her building, Shawn floored the gas pedal and sped off into the night thinking about the woman who was sitting next to him just a few minutes ago. _'Yes, we will definitely get together again. I'll make sure of it,'_ he mused.

…………………………………………

Faye opened the door to her dark dingy apartment. What a night. Now she could finally get some rest and reflect on what happened tonight. Never mind. Screw reflecting on the night. She was too tired to think. All she wanted to do was jump into the shower and then go to sleep, and that's what she decided to do. While Faye was in the shower enjoying herself, she was oblivious to the shadow that passed by and when into her room.

With drops of water dripping down from her hair, Faye wrapped a white towel around her body. She walked into her room and pulled out one of her drawers, searching for a pair of undies. After rummaging through her clothes for a while, she finally pulled out a pink lacey thong and slipped it on. After searching around some more, she finally found her favorite oversized sweatshirt with a big happy face on it; Ed made it for her. That was the first present she had ever gotten from anyone. Every time she wore the sweatshirt, she felt some warmth creeping into her cold heart_. 'Or maybe the sweater is just really warm,'_ she would argue back. Admitting to feeling attached to Ed was one of the things she least wanted to do. After pulling the sweater on, Faye decided to turn in and get some good night rest. Needless to say, what she found on her bed changed her mind.

"What the hell are you doing here!" she screeched. Vicious lay on her bed, staring thoughtfully at the wall. Several moments of silence had passed before he swung his legs off the bed and walked towards Faye. She stood in her place, not knowing what to do, wishing that maybe her sweatshirt would get her out of the really bad mood she was in at the moment. _'Please, let this be a dream. Let everything be a dream,'_ she silently wished. She stared at the floor and then closed her eyes, hoping that by the time she opened them, the legs she saw approaching her would disappear. The falling of footsteps stopped. _'Please, I'm just dreaming,'_ she thought as she popped an eye open. Unfortunately, her wish fell on deaf ears. Faye slowly moved her gaze to Vicious' face. He was merely a foot away from her, the smell of evergreen invading her nostrils. Her eyes finally met his, and at that moment, Faye was surprised at what she saw. Vicious looked like he was battling with his emotions. His ocean blue eyes were filled with anger while he tried to remain calm. Finally he spoke in his ice cold voice.

"What the hell are you doing with Shawn?" he stated rather than asked.

"How do you know Shawn?" Faye narrowed her eyes, wondering where this whole conversation was getting to.

"Answer me," he demanded.

"He asked me out," she replied coolly.

"So you are his new toy," he muttered.

That comment hit a nerve. Faye eyes twitched in anger. _'Where does he get the nerve to say such things!'_ Faye was not in a good mood at all. _'A toy? I'm a fucking person!' _Her anger got the better side of her and her fist flew out at Vicious. He easily dodged her blow and stepped in as he did so, pushing Faye up against the wall. Vicious trapped her with his two hands on the wall and had his body weight pressed against her so she wouldn't escape.

"You asshole," Faye whispered as she stared at Vicious straight in the eye, "How dare you say such things. I'm not anyone's toy. I don't know who Shawn is. We just had a bet and he won. I was merely fulfilling my part of the bet, since I lost. If we were anything more, you would have gotten yourself a free show tonight."

It took Vicious a couple of seconds to process all the facts he just received. Regardless of whether they are together or not, things are getting more dangerous and complicated.

"Stay away from him," he warned with anger leaving his eyes_. 'It was just a bet and nothing more,' _he told himself, trying to get rid of this tugging feeling he felt so strongly inside of him. He dismissed it as just getting food poisoning. _'Shitty food for such a high price…not worth it.'_ He slowly let his arms drop to his side, turning to walk away. Before he could even take two steps forward, a heavy hand fell onto his right shoulder and swung him around.

"You can't leave without answering my questions," Faye forced out of her clenched teeth. Tons of questions swam across her mind. She could feel a big migraine approaching if these questions were left unanswered. Vicious didn't make any movement as a sign of leaving, so Faye decided to continue on.

"Who's Shawn?"

"Do you really want to know? You might think of him differently after I answer you, and I don't want be responsible for ruining your blooming relationship with him," he replied sarcastically.

"Shut up and answer me," she voiced angrily.

"I can't do both at the same time," he pointed out. Faye tried her best not to let her anger get to her. Her fist was curled up into a tight ball with her perfectly manicured nails digging deeply into her palms. She was pissed. First he insulted her. Then he demanded for answers to his questions. Now he's being a smart asshole. Screw it. She wasn't going to take that crap anymore.

"You know what. Forget it. Thank you for your concern about who I'm seeing. But I think Shawn is a very likable guy, and I would **_love_ **to get to know him better since you won't tell me who he is. At least he has never tried to kill me. Plus he treats me like a princess. I clearly don't see any harm in him" she nonchalantly said as she pushed Vicious, "Oh by the way, please lock the door when you leave." Her eyes met Vicious'; he was seething with anger. She couldn't stand to look at his eyes for too long. All that anger they held were because of her…anger that were swirling like tidal waves in his eyes. Faye had truly pissed Vicious off. Not wanting to look into the pools of hell anymore, she turned away and started towards her bed. There was nothing she wanted more than to crawl into the comfort of her bed and hide there until the fallen angel leaves her room. She started to calmly walk towards her bed._ 'Just ignore him and pretend nothing is wrong.'_ Just when she was about to take her first step, she felt a strong grasp on her wrist. _'Just ignore him…just ignore him,'_ she repeated like a mantra. She stood there with her back towards him, unwilling to turn around and face the wrath of Vicious, but he twisted her arm, forcing her to face him. He turned her around with their faces only several inches apart and spoke through his gritted teeth.

"Don't, Faye."

"Why not?" she winced as he tightened his grip, "Why do you care so much about what I do?"

'Damn shit. I shouldn't care.' Vicious tried to look for the answer to wouldn't give himself away. He didn't want Faye to know that he may be slightly, just very slightly, attracted to her. Then, the picture of the Spike and Faye snapped in his head.

"Because I thought you love Spike," he reasoned, "You know the outcome of getting involved with the syndicate. If you stick too close to Shawn, you might end up dead as well. I know Spike doesn't want you to follow his footsteps. Just stay away from him, just for Spike." No matter how much it hurts to say those words, Vicious uttered each and every single one of them effectively without giving any signs of pain and hesitancy.

"Shut the fuck up," she muttered under her breath; Vicious barely caught the words hanging in the air.

"What?" He wasn't sure if he heard her correctly.

"Don't you dare tell me how I feel or how Spike would feel," she spat out.

"Look I didn't mean it that way Faye," he tried to explain. _'Shit, I try to be helpful and all I get are more problems.'_ He sighed heavily and he continued with a softer tone, "I know you probably want to shoot me in the head because of what I did to Spike, and I don't understand why you haven't yet. But Spike was my best friend before that bitch, Julia, came into the scene. Our lives got too twisted and it just had to end that way. I was too angry to see my mistakes, and Spike was too obsessed over that woman to recognize his either. We had no way out. However, you do."

He looked at her earnestly in the eye. Vicious had meant everyone word he said. He didn't know why he wanted Faye to stay away. All he knew was that he didn't want to see her brilliant emerald eyes lose their luster and life.

Faye stared at him in shock. She was at a lost of words at that particular moment. Vicious was revealing a part of himself that she thought never existed. She detected a hint of sadness in his voice as he talked about Spike. He wasn't the emotionless psycho killer she'd thought he was. Never in her life did she feel like she needed to reveal her feelings, but at that moment she couldn't stop herself. Her heart screamed for a confession and who's more fitting to listen than the fallen angel before her.

"I loved him. If I were the Faye I was three years ago, I would have killed you without a thought. I'm different now. I was so mad when Spike asked to have himself killed. I confessed my love to him, and still nothing could stop him. I hated him for that. But over the years, I finally accepted his love for Julia and saw him more and more as a best friend. I even started to understand where he was coming from when he left that day to face off with you. We've all had fucked up lives. I wish I could blame it on you, but I can't. As I got to know you more, I realized that I don't want to hurt you…I want to…help you….Vicious." There. She said it. All these feelings and thoughts that has been locked in her mind were finally let out. She didn't know what would happen next. Would he just brush her off? Would he laugh. All these thoughts flew out the window when she felt his lips pressed softly against her own. He gently nibbled on her bottom lip and licked it, asking for entrance. Her mouth opened slightly to comply with his wishes. It started as a soft dance as he sensually moved his tongue with hers, until Faye wrapped one of her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. With her other hand, she playfully fingered his tie until it came loose and fell onto the floor. Vicious responded by scooping Faye up with his arms. He gently placed her on the bed and broke off their kiss to look Faye in the eye. Uncertainty filled Vicious mind; as much as he wanted to be with Faye, he had signed a death note with the syndicate. Plans had been made; the Red Dragon would fall and he might die in the process. He didn't want Faye to get hurt.

"Faye…I –," he stuttered as he tried to form the right words to explain himself.

Faye caught the hesitancy that passed through his eyes. Before he could continue, she silenced him with her lips. All she could think of was that she didn't want to let him go. She wanted him to be with her. She cared. And through her kiss, she tried to express how much she cared and wanted to help him. The kiss shocked Vicious; he felt so warm and loved when she kissed him. Love. Something he had never felt before in his life. All reasoning and logic left his mind as he submitted himself to Faye's tender kiss. Tonight they would let their love take over them.

Tomorrow would be different story.

……………………………………………

A/N: I know I suck at writing, but I **really** suck at writing sensual stuff. I've started writing this chapter immediately after the update, but it was really hard to get my thoughts together. Scatterbrain I am. . There were so many directions I could have taken the story to, so I had a hard time deciding. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Yes, I figured since it's around chapter 10 already, I might as well give let the two get together. Don't be too happy. Hahah. I'm not too sure if I made Faye looked too easy in this chapter. I'm really sorry. That was not my intention. I really don't want to drag this story to 30 something chapters long. That is why I wanted to speed some things up a little bit.

**Concetta:** I hope you love all the other chapters as well.

**Breezy1028:** Hahah, who doesn't hate cliffies? But they're just so fun to have!

**Kinokokichigai:** Yes, I agree. I hope there aren't too many tense problems in this chapter. I was just too excited to update that I didn't want to revise the chapter. Hehe. Also, I just totally suck at the tense stuff. . 

**Autumn's Fire:** Interesting…in a good way or a bad way? O.o;;;

**Alexis:** I'll shall comply to your wishes.

**Animefreak03:** I've read your story! I think it is very lovely and definitely better than mine. How come it's not complete! Please upload the rest of the chapters!

**Angels Heart 1622:** I'm really glad you are open-minded towards this pairing! You rock!

**Sesshomarulover87:** I hope you like this chapter!

**Marishka:** I promise I'll try to update sooner next time.

Thank you for all the reviews!

Love or hate this chapter? Leave some feedback! Please review!


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